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Illustrated Blackout Poetry

A classroom resource inspired by the exploration of language

Target key stage: KS1 – KS2

Target age: 8-11

Recommended duration: 50 – 60 minutes

Curriculum links:
English – planning, drafting and writing poetry, evaluating and editing their own and others’ writing
Art and Design – producing, evaluating and analysing creative work, and developing new techniques including control and use of materials, and experimentation

 

Created by Becci Sharrock

 

Blackout Poetry, sometimes called redaction or redacted poetry is a form of poetry that takes a piece of text that already exists and creates a poem by removing large sections of it. The poem is created by the words that are left.

On this page:

Look and discuss

Create your own

More inspiration

Further exploration

Look and discuss

5 minutes

Take a moment to explore some Blackout Poetry ideas and be inspired!

Have a look at these examples and discuss them. Think about the content and the words that were chosen. What is the message of the poem? Is the design of the page linked to the message in some way?

Pick out a favourite and explain what you like about it.

Blackout poem by SuZen Art

A book page with printed text covered by swirling abstract patterns in black, grey, and blue. The design forms curved shapes that loop across the page. Several words across the page are outlined and kept out of the design forming the sentence:

Official by Colette Love Hilliard

A black-and-white illustration of ocean waves with fine line details, set against a dark sky with tiny stars drawn on a book page. Word have been outlined and excluded from the illustration forming a vertical poem on the left side. It reads “miraculous waves of wonder climbed around her and the desire to start over again was official.” The waves fill the bottom half of the image, curling upward with sharp peaks.

Blackout poem by Katherine Mobilia

A book page with printed text and a colourful drawing of a person holding a large bunch of balloons. The balloons are in bright colours—red, yellow, green, purple, and orange—and fill the top left of the page. The person is wearing a yellow dress and has long brown hair. Several words have been outlined in black boxes to form a blackout poem: “be at liberty to be happy. Wishes confidence affection independance made me what I am” The page number “100” appears at the top.

Create your own

35 – 45 minutes

Have a go at creating your own blackout poem.

Blackout poetry is a mindful activity. Therefore, try to create a poem around the theme ‘Positive Change’. See if you can make a positive or inspiring message. For example, to be kind to yourself or to be kind to others, to look after the planet or to help those around you.

Step 1

Using a pencil, scan through the text and circle any words or short phrases that stand out to you. It might be a word that you like or a short phrase that brings an image to mind. Don’t worry at this stage about how the words might go together.

A close-up of a book page with printed text in black on a light background. Several words and phrases are circled in pencil including:

Step 2

Now have a look at the words you have circled and see if you can start to structure some lines of your poem around them. You might need to look for other words nearby that you can add to help it make sense.

Remember about the overall positive message. For example, I found the word ‘possible’ in this text and wanted to use it. You can see here I found ‘look’, ‘for’, and ‘the’ to put in front of it. This made the line ‘Look for the possible’.

A close-up of a book page with printed text in black on a light background. Several words and phrases are circled in pencil including:

Step 3

Once you have decided which words you want to keep, draw a neat box around them in pencil and rub out all of your other markings. This is to make sure they stand out after you’ve illustrated the rest of the page.

I’ve done mine in black pen so you can see but you might not want to do that until you know what colour your picture will be.

A close-up of a book page with printed text. Several words and phrases are outlined in black ink which, when combined, reads: 'Look for the possible'. The text visible describes walking, scanning forestry plantations, and choosing a path. There are faint pencil outlines which look like they have been erased.

Step 4

The last thing to do is to pick a design to illustrate your poem. Have a look at the examples below for inspiration. These are all done using the same page and the same line: ‘look for the possible’.

Remember, the most important thing is not to cover the words that make up your poem. Make sure that the words stand out and can be read clearly.

A book page with printed text and thin black lines in random places overlapping to create different shapes. Four words are outlined in black boxes—“look,” “for,”
A book page with printed text partly covered by bold shapes in red, blue, yellow, black, and white. One of the shapes are partially coloured in suggesting it is a work in progress. Four words have been outlined in black —“look,” “for,”
A book page with words partly covered by bold, painted shapes in red, blue, yellow, black and white. Four words have been outlined in black and stand out from the colourful shapes—“look,” “for,”,

More Inspiration

A book page with printed text and a flowing magenta shape running down the centre like a winding path. Four words are left out of the bubble shape—“look,” “for,”
Zoom picture 1 of 4
A book page with printed text and the outline of a flowing magenta shape running down the centre like a winding path. Four words are left out of the bubble shape—“look,” “for,”
Zoom picture 2 of 4
A book page with printed text and a hand-drawn scene. A thick brown shape runs across the lower half like a branch. On the branch is a simple sketch of an ant carrying a green leaf. The background is shaded lightly in three shades travelling down the page - from blue, to red and then yellow. Four words are outlined in black boxes “look,” “for,”,
Zoom picture 3 of 4
A book page with printed text and a simple line drawing of a robot-like figure. The figure has a rectangular head, a boxy torso, and limbs outlined in black. Inside the torso is a red flower illustration. Four words—“look,” “for,”,
Zoom picture 4 of 4

Further Exploration

Now you know how blackout poetry works, explore further ideas and keep creating!

  • Themes: Let the choice of found text suggest new themes to work on. For example, using old history text-books to create war poems.
  • Artists: Try to form your poem and design inspired by the work of a particular artist. For example the piece in the step by step instructions was inspired by the artwork Composition A by Piet Mondrian

Want to know more about the artist that designed this resource? Contact us and we’ll happily introduce you!

Email info@sunderlandculture.org.uk

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